On April
28, at the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE, the head of
the EU Fact-Finding Commission on Georgia-Russian War Heidi Tagliavini blamed
the Georgian side in provoking the war once again. However, she also mentioned
“substantial and multiple” violations of international norms by Russia.
Everybody liked Tagliavni’s statement at the session. The Georgian newspaper
“Resonance” wrote about it in the article of Malkhaz Gagua “Tagliavini Blamed
CoE in Launching the War.”
According to the article, every speaker considered himself/herself responsible to start their speeches with the substantial compliments about the Swiss diplomat. Neither Georgian nor Russian MPs were lazy to praise her. However, each of them focused on the aspects which were acceptable only for them. In parallel to the Tagliavini’s speech, the assembly had to discuss the resolution on the political impact of the Russian-Georgian war and poll on it; but because of the disagreement between the two speakers – Mathias Iorsh and David Wilsher the issue was postponed for October. By that time, Iorsh – pro-Georgian speaker will not be the member of the assembly any longer.
Heidi
Tagliavini started the essential part of her speech was reply to the
most-frequently asked question – “who provoked the war?” The commission concluded
it was Georgia which bombed Tskhinvali on the night of August 7-8 by
heavy-artillery and launched military attack.
“None of
the clarifications provided by the Georgian side to prove the break-out of the
war, was not confirmed after detailed investigation,” said the chairwoman of
the EU-funded fact-finding commission. She added: “Furthermore, the allegation
of the Georgian side on the invasion of the significant part of regular army of
Russia in the region before August 7 is not confirmed either.”
In
parallel to it, Tagliavini said, the attack of August 7 is not a separate case.
Before that were months and years of controversy, incidents and worsened
relationship. Both sides are guilty in it. Although Georgia is responsible for the break-out of the war, Russia is guilty
for the substantial and multiple violation of the international law. Tagliavini
means distribution of Russian passports among the population in Abkhazia and
South Ossetia; for the invasion in the Georgian territory which cannot be
explained by the protection of their peace-keepers. In addition to that, Swiss
diplomat stated the recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South
Ossetia contradicts the international law.
“The
allegations of the Russian and Ossetian sides about the genocide committed by
Georgian armed forces are groundless,” said Tagliavini and in parallel to it
she confirmed the facts of ethnic cleansing against Georgian population. She
said, there are serious complaints against Russian army which “did not or could
not resist armed formations from Tskhinvali to commit violent crimes” on the
territories which were controlled by them.
“In fact,
there was nothing new in the statement of Tagliavini for those who have read
the commission report. As a result, the debates were not very noisy. Most
speakers demanded Russia to execute or at least respect previous resolutions;
however nobody spoke about concrete measures which can be taken if the
obligations are not executed or respected,” said the correspondent of the
Resonance.
“The
position of the co-speakers of the CoE is also divided. There is gap regarding
this issue in the CoE,” said Mathias Iorsh after he left the session together with
David Wilsher, British co-speaker of the monitoring committee about
Georgia-Russian War.
“Many people
think that we have to put up with the new reality. I think, Europe shall not
accept new Yalta. I am leaving the council with light heart because I hope my
colleagues will not put up with it,” said Iorsh.
Because of
the controversy, the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE could not discuss the
question of Russian-Georgian war. The point is that Iorsh and Wilsher released
diametrically controversial reports. Georgian society knows the position of
Iorsh very well; David Wilsher has very warm relationship with the Russian
authority.
“This
question was raised at the meeting of the monitoring committee before the
session started and later it was discussed at the bureau on Wednesday where
through the initiative of the Georgian side it was decided not to discuss the
question at the session and focus only on Tagliavini’s report. Georgian
delegation said the reason of their decision was the visit of David Wilsher in
the de-facto embassy of Tskhinvali region in Moscow which caused doubts about
the partiality of the speaker. It is noteworthy that Iorsh’s term in the
assembly expires in May and soon a new speaker will replace him.
“The
Assembly will discuss the resolution on Georgian-Russian war in October. The
Russian delegation seemed pleased with the result. The head of the delegation
Konstantine Kosachov stated the situation is improving in their favor. And it
is so – unlike the sessions of the last year, nobody mentioned the dismissal of
Russia from the Assembly in April. Simply, several MPs reminded Russia to execute
previous resolutions,” said the correspondent for the Resonance.
Based on the Interpresnews